Well it would have been awesome, but would have also increased the complexity of the system and the number of things that could ho wrong. The main mission was the successful launch of the rocket and the separation and navigation of the booster stages, and they needed as much manpower as possible for that. The roadster was the cherry on top.
How exactly would it have added an appreciable amount complexity to put a small solar powered camera on the car? They already put a space suit in there for shits and giggles
A space suit isn't something that needs to communicate back to earth. I don't think people realize the complexity in that alone. You don't "shits and giggles" a solar powered camera capable of communicating back to earth. That camera needs to be protected, consistently aligned solar panels, and consistently aligned antenna which is a little more complex than slapping a camera on there.
You're really ignoring the primary objective and incredible feat that we just witnessed.
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u/BlahYourHamster Feb 07 '18
In retrospect this is a bit of a missed opportunity. You would have thought they'd put at least a solar powered tracker on it.
Heck, even a solar powered camera that takes periodic pictures every so often would have been good enough.